Rampur,

23 May (HS): A court in Uttar Pradesh's Rampur district raised Samajwadi Party

leader Azam Khan's prison sentence from seven to ten years on Saturday in

connection with the suspected use of two PAN cards, while his son Abdullah Azam

Khan's punishment remained seven years. Vijay Kumar, Additional District and

Sessions Judge, issued the ruling while hearing the prosecution's request for

an augmentation of penalty. Previously, the MP-MLA magistrate court of Shobhit

Bansal convicted both Azam Khan and his son to seven years in jail and levied a

Rs 50,000 punishment. On Saturday, Assistant District Government Counsel Seema

Singh Rana stated that the court increased Azam Khan's penalty under multiple counts

and fined him Rs 5 lakh.

She

stated that Abdullah Azam Khan's seven-year prison sentence was upheld, but the

fine was increased to Rs 3.5 lakh. Rana stated that the case involved the

alleged production and use of false PAN cards, for which both had already been

convicted. She stated that the accused's appeals against the conviction had

been denied by the sessions court on April 20.

The

prosecution thereafter requested an augmentation of the sentence, and the court

issued its decision on Saturday, she noted.

Meanwhile,

Akash Saxena, BJP MLA from Rampur, called the order as historic. This is a

historically significant decision. We had contested the initial punishment on

the grounds that it was too light, and the court heard our case. I am convinced

that truth will win in the future as well. Saxena further stated that it is the

first time (in India) that a sentence has been increased.

Hindusthan Samachar / Abhishek Awasthi